Why Baptism?
Of the two sacraments of the church preserved over 2000 years, baptism has been a mysterious rite given to the local body for a myriad ofA believer needs to understand understand its full ramifications before entering into this covenant before God and the church. So with reverence and soundness of mind, let us enter this discussion together. The doutlined inet forth in this blog are not exhaustive research on this subject. Please study with caution and exercise discernment.
An Outward Expression of an Inner Faith
Romans 10:8-10
“The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: 9 That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.
Exercise:
In this passage, Paul reminds the believer in Rome that faith is not exclusively an exercise of the heart. It is both the heart and the mouth.
Questions to ponder:
Public confession is necessary for salvation in what way?
Then, are we saved through baptism?
Read Acts 16:11-34
In this story, apostle Paul baptized believers and their dependents but insisted that what saves is ________________. Please explain.
A Following of Jesus’ Example
Matthew 3:13-17
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. 14 But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 15 Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented. 16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
Exercise:
In Jesus’ baptism, the Father in Heaven declared his delight in His Son. So, it is with our baptism before God.
Questions to ponder:
In what ways do you think God is pleased with you?
How did Jesus accomplish righteousness in his baptism?
A Symbolic Representation of Je-sus’ Death & Resurrection
Romans 6:3-5
3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. 5 If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.
Exercise:
Paul speaks of a baptism that brings new life into the living, but this new life must go through a dying process. In other words, to live a life with the resurrection power, one must learn to die with Christ.
Questions to ponder:
What does it mean to die?
Can you think of some application for your own life?
Activity
In the following passage, take a pencil and underline the words that describe our life before salvation and circle the words that describe our life after salvation.
Colossians 2:8-3:17
8 See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. 9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10 and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. 11 In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. 16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration, or a Sabbath day. 17 These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. 18 Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions. 19 He has lost connection with the Head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow. 20 Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: 21 “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? 22 These are all destined to perish with use because they are based on human commands and teachings. 23 Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility, and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.
Rules for Holy Living
3 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. 5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. 7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8 But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 11 Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all and is in all. 12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. 15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
If we are buried with Christ and raised with Christ in baptism, we must not lapse into Christless, worldly, “natural” religion, with its legalism and superstition, but must let Christ’s supernatural risen life find expression in us in the breaking of bad habits and the hammering out of a new, Christlike character.
A Symbolic Representation of our Sins Cleansed by the Blood
Acts 22:16
And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.’
Acts 26:18
to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.
Exercise:
Turning from darkness to light is a general orientation of the heart, a relationship if you will. The word commonly used is repentance, a change of allegiance or life-focus. When a person repents from his ways, he/she turns away from one thing and into something or someone else.
Questions to ponder:
Does the washing of your sins require a turning away from every sinful deed in your life?
What if I don’t know all the sins I’ve committed, how would I receive forgiveness without repentance?
A Symbolic Representation of our New Life in the Spirit
John 3:5-8
5 Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
Exercise:
The original Greek word for wind is the same word for the Spirit (pneuma). John speaks of an invisible force (life) that comes into a believer and gives the believer a new birth.
Questions to ponder:
Have you experienced this new birth? What is the difference between the birth of water and the Spirit?
You can’t see the wind, can you see its effect? In what ways has the Spirit changed you?
A Command of our Lord Jesus
Matthew 28:18-20
18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have command- ed you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Exercise:
Jesus has all the authority in heaven and on earth. He then charges the believers to go and make disciples. This is disciple making disciples.
Questions to ponder:
What three things included in the making of disciples?
Why do we baptize by three different names?
What promise did Jesus offer to those who obey?
Converted Lifestyle vs. Conversion Experience
Acts 1:4-5
“Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
Acts 1:8
8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
First, baptism requires conversion. It signifies not only god’s saving work in us, through Jesus’ death and resurrection for us, but also our entry thereby into the new life through “repentance to God and ... faith in our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20:21)—that is, through conversion. Conversion credibly professed, qualifies adults for baptism.
Second, baptism shapes conversion. From the symbolism of baptism, we learn that becoming a Christian means accepting death with Christ (entire separation from the world), being washed through Christ (entire forgiveness for the past), and identifying with the risen life of Christ (entire consecration for the future); and that genuine conversion has to be a real response to God at all three points.
Third, baptism tests conversion. Conversion as a psychological recoil to religion is known outside Christianity; what identifies a conversion experience as Christian is its positive orientation to baptism’s three-fold summons.
Why is a converted lifestyle more significant than a conversion experience?
An Initiation into the Membership of the Church of Jesus Christ
I Corinthians 12:13
13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.
Exercise:
Since Pentecost, becoming a member of God’s family according to his revealed will—Christian initiation, to use the technical phrase—has involved three factors: repentance and faith, plus Christian baptism, plus the coming of the Spirit for new covenant ministry (cf. Acts 2:38; 10:44-48; Romans 8:9; Galatians: 3:2; Ephesians 1:13).
Questions to ponder:
Review the above passages. What are the basic three elements of church membership?
Read Ephesians 4:7-16 and I Corinthians 12:14-13:13.
Valuation (Galatians 3:27)
Service (Ephesians 4:16)
How do you compose a Christ-Centered Testimony?
Christ-Centered Testimony
How my life was oriented before Christ?
How I came to accept Christ as the Lord and Savior of my life?
How my life has changed because of Christ?
Exercise:
What were the primary concerns in my life before conversion? Please list at least three:
What are my primary concerns in my life now? Please list at least three:
Take a few minutes to write out your testimony. Your testimony is about Christ’s work in your life. So, keep your testimony short and straightforward. Keep your testimony within 3 to 5 minutes.
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